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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28043040">Subsidiary Motions</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gileonnen/pseuds/Gileonnen'>Gileonnen</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Destiny (Video Games)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Accusations of Autocracy, Doodling Lizards on Meeting Notes, M/M, Osiris's Insecurities, Parliamentary Procedure in the Consensus, Saint's Fealty Kink</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-11 00:49:00</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,820</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28043040</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gileonnen/pseuds/Gileonnen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>When Osiris's impatience gets the better of him at a Consensus meeting, Saint-14 is left with an unappetizing choice between presenting a united front and following procedure.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Osiris/Saint-14 (Destiny)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>85</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Subsidiary Motions</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"The representative from the Concordat has exceeded his speaking time," says the Speaker, the <i>again</i> hanging loudly unsaid.</p><p>"I haven't finished laying out my case," Lysander insists. "If Saint-14 were bringing this motion before the Consensus, you'd allow <i>him</i> time to make his case--"</p><p>"If, for some unfathomable reason, Saint-14 were championing your cause, he would keep to his allotted time," says Osiris drily. "The Consensus has no interest in considering your proposal further. Please cede the floor so that we can discuss more pressing matters."</p><p>Saint's heart sinks. If the entire Consensus weren't watching them, he'd lay a warning hand on Osiris's thigh, but by now the time for warnings has already passed. He quells the urge to hide his face in both palms.</p><p>In the appalled silence that follows, Osiris's many enemies look to the Speaker as one. They all know that Osiris has overstepped again, and it's somehow worse that he's done it while agreeing with the Speaker. The two of them fight often enough as it is without Osiris's sabotaging their few scraps of common ground.</p><p>"The Consensus has not voted on the Concordat's measure," says the Speaker, low but carrying. There is no malice in his voice, but his disappointment is sharp enough to wound. "We ask that the Vanguard Commander respect the agreed-upon bylaws and procedures. We are a council, not an autocracy."</p><p>"It is hardly autocracy to observe that no single member has voted for this measure the three other times the Concordat has brought it before the Consensus," Osiris says. His dark eyes flash as he looks from Arach Jalaal to the aging Executor Adel Gerhat and at last to Lysander, who offers a nasty grin in reply. "The substance of the proposal remains unchanged, although our <i>agreed-upon bylaws</i> require that a proposal must be revised in order to be reintroduced. Lysander and the Concordat continue to waste our valuable time through their own violations of procedure, and I am not inclined to entertain this absurdity any further."</p><p>In the radiance of his ire, Osiris is straight-backed and regal as the Iron Lords of old--he grips the arms of his chair as though it is a throne, his chin raised and his eyes locked with Lysander's. His gaze commands the room. Saint can't help leaning in slightly in admiration of the angle of his jaw, the sharp line of his lips. His processors heat; coolant lines pulse in answer.</p><p>The Speaker taps his pen against the table, and Saint nearly jumps in his seat. "If any member of the Consensus wishes to pose a question following the Concordat's presentation, they may request the floor."</p><p>At the far end of the table, Lysander exchanges a look with Arach Jalaal, who folds his arms and shrugs. He turns to the Executor next, then to Tallulah Fairwind. She misses his glance; she's openly doodling lizards in the margins of her agenda. Finally, Lysander turns to Saint, who shakes his head. He has no interest in granting Lysander another opportunity to speak.</p><p>The silence stretches on uncomfortably long. Osiris glares at the Speaker as though he's counting the seconds, silently drumming his fingertips on the arm of his chair. At the end of that long silence, the Speaker inhales deeply and says, "Having heard no further inquiries, I bring the motion to a vote. Record your vote in the log as in favor, against, or abstaining."</p><p>Saint enters the rote <i>Against</i> vote on his tablet and submits it. All around him, the other Consensus members tap away at their tablets, some of them voting, others having quick sidebar conversations, at least one drawing spines on her lizards.</p><p>The Speaker consults the tally, then says without any real surprise, "One in favor; one absent; rest against. The motion does not carry. Unless there are any further motions--"</p><p>"I request the floor," says Executor Adel Gerhat immediately.</p><p>The Speaker nods. "Granted."</p><p>The Executor clears her throat. "I move that Vanguard Commander Osiris and Concordat representative Lysander be formally reprimanded for their breach of procedure."</p><p>Saint can almost hear the Speaker grinning beneath his mask. "Your motion has been entered into the record. You may have one minute to elaborate."</p><p>Flames dance over Osiris's knuckles. Saint touches his wrist, but if Osiris notices, he chooses to ignore it.</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>* * *</p>
</div>Saint manages to keep himself calm all the way to Osiris's office--but as soon as the door clicks shut behind them, he lets out a roar of frustration that rattles the windows. "Damn your eyes, Osiris!"<p>"And what do my eyes have to do with anything?" Osiris leans back against his desk, hands lightly gripping the edge as though to bracket the spare, slim lines of his waist. He licks his lips, then lifts his chin as though in challenge. The arch of his neck seems made to be kissed.</p><p>On any other day, Saint might take him up on the clear invitation in that pose. Today, he'd rather put Osiris through a window. "You know what I mean. You spoke out of turn--"</p><p>"In your defense."</p><p>"Do you expect me to thank you?" Saint stalks across the intricate rugs that carpet the floor, pacing from one bookshelf to the next as though there is some tome in Osiris's library that will ease his wrath. "You didn't care what he said about me. You only wanted to make Lysander look foolish. He was doing that well enough on his own."</p><p>"He was accusing your father of favoritism," said Osiris with sudden heat. He pushes off from his desk to catch Saint by the wrist; his palm burns like a brand. "Do you really think that his comment would find no purchase with the rest of the Consensus? They all suspect that you are the Speaker's favored son. They've only been waiting for someone else to say it. I will not allow him to tarnish your reputation."</p><p>"So instead you tarnish it yourself."</p><p>Osiris narrows his eyes. "What do you mean?"</p><p>"You are my commander!" Saint snaps.</p><p>"And your lover."</p><p>"And my lover, but first you are my commander. I could argue with a man I love--but in the Consensus chamber, you are the Vanguard Commander, and the Vanguard <i>must</i> present a united front." Saint turns his hand in Osiris's grip until he can lace their fingers together. Fury still vibrates through him, overwhelming every sensor and synapse--but the familiar weight of Osiris's hand in his helps him master that anger. He lowers his gaze. "This is not the first time you have done this. When you break with procedure in the Consensus, you force me to choose between breaking with you, or condoning your behavior. Do not put that choice on me, Osiris."</p><p>Slowly, Osiris raises Saint's hand to his lips, then kisses his knuckles one by one. "I've upset you," he says. "That was not my intention."</p><p>"I forgive you," Saint answers. He knows that it will not be the last time that Osiris will disappoint him and be forgiven. He knows, too, that there is nothing Osiris could do that he would not forgive. "Try to do better. That is all I ask."</p><p>"I will try. For your sake." Osiris turns Saint's hand in his, unfolding it until he can kiss the palm. Saint can't help curling his hand to cradle Osiris's jaw, and to run his thumb over the high, arched bone of Osiris's cheek. "Does it trouble you, to be both my lover and my subordinate? Any lingering ethical compunctions?"</p><p>"No," Saint answers at once. "I have loved you since before there was a Vanguard. Since before there was a City. One of us must serve as commander; it was my choice that it be you. And I do not regret that choice. Not even when you make an ass of yourself in the Consensus."</p><p>Osiris is quiet for a moment, leaning into Saint's hand, letting himself be touched. When at last he looks up again, there is a softness in his gaze that melts Saint's heart. "It ought to have been you."</p><p>"No. You are the better tactician. You can make the hard choices that I cannot--you can decide what must be saved, and what can be abandoned."</p><p>"You underestimate my sentimentality. Or you overestimate your own." With a sigh, Osiris draws Saint's arms around himself and tucks his head beneath Saint's chin. Without the bulk of his armor to shield him from the embrace, Osiris is lean and taut as a wire. "I only meant to say that you command respect. Not through your merit or your service record or your tactical brilliance--although all three are beyond question--but through the sheer force of your personality. People like you, Saint. They want to follow you. That alone makes you better equipped to lead."</p><p>"Perhaps." Saint presses a kiss to Osiris's brow. "But I choose to follow you. And I will always choose to follow you."</p><p>Osiris gives a low, rustling laugh. "I may lead you astray."</p><p>"That is why I was angry with you," Saint answers. He eases out of Osiris's arms, sliding back until their hands are linked again, and then he sinks to his knees. "You know I will follow you. Why do you make it so hard to take your side?"</p><p>Osiris studies him like an equation that he cannot calculate, written in radians where his intuition seeks degrees. There are a dozen easy answers: <i>Because the bylaws are inefficient, and I detest inefficiency.</i> Or <i>Because Lysander is a blowhard who deserved to have his pride pricked.</i> Perhaps only, <i>Because no amount of procedural compliance will bring the Speaker around to my point of view.</i></p><p>Osiris folds Saint's hands in his own. From the set of his jaw, the lines like grief across his brows, Saint knows that he has chosen a hard answer. "Because even after all these years, I can't understand why you would choose me."</p><p>"And so you test me." Saint meets his gaze. "Do you not see how cruel that is? To both of us?"</p><p>Looking away, Osiris answers, "I do."</p><p>Saint leans in, then, and kisses the back of Osiris's hand. He wishes he were a knight of old, to pledge his devotion on a sword; he wishes Osiris were his lord, to bid him rise remade. "I swear myself to you. For now. For always. You are my commander. My love. My best friend. You have always been worthy--do not ask me to prove it to you. Prove it to yourself."</p><p>"I will try," says Osiris again; this time, his voice is rough at the edges. His eyes gleam in the light of the setting sun.</p><p>"Good." Then, rising to his feet, Saint drags Osiris into his arms. "So. You said there was pressing business. Very important."</p><p>"It can wait," replies Osiris, and pulls Saint down for a kiss.</p>
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